Buchanan County has the highest incidence of breast cancer in the 17-county Greater Kansas City area. That’s according to a 2009 community profile presented at the St. Joseph YWCA on Friday by Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Lori Maris, executive director of the organization’s Greater Kansas City affiliate, noted that in addition to its high incidence rate, Buchanan County has the third-highest mortality rate among breast-cancer patients, as well as a high percentage of uninsured women: 14.4 percent of the 18- to 64-year-old age group.

“When they get to the point where they’re having symptoms, they’re probably going to show up at Heartland’s ER,” she said, “and that’s costly.”

But the monetary expense isn’t the only cost that comes with breast cancer that goes undiagnosed and untreated until it’s reached an advanced stage. These cases are the ones most likely to be fatal — and also the ones most likely to occur in women who, often because they’re uninsured, don’t receive preventative screenings.

After reviewing factors such as incidence and mortality rates, mammography screening data, families below poverty, numbers of uninsured women and of black and Hispanic/Latina women, Komen Kansas City chose Buchanan County as one of eight counties on which it will focus additional time and resources. In May, it announced that among those throughout Greater Kansas City receiving community grants totaling $870,000 are the YWCA’s ENCOREplus program and the Social Welfare Board’s First Step Prevention from Breast Cancer.

The Social Welfare Board has received $450,000 from Komen Kansas City over the past seven years, said Linda Judah, executive director of the board. She added that the funds cover clinical breast exams, as well as any diagnostic follow-up necessary, for indigent women.

Ms. Maris emphasized that although Komen can’t yet offer a cure, she hopes it can help lessen breast cancer’s impact on Buchanan County.

“We want it to be in the history books,” she said. “Until then, we’re going to focus on lowering mortality.”

Erin Wisdom can be reached

at ewisdom@npgco.com.